Hearing a PIL filed by filed in 2003 by NGO Centre for Public Interest Litigation, The Supreme Court of India asked the Reserve Bank of India whether the amounts of defaulters owing amounts of Rs. 500 crores or more could be disclosed publicly. The RBI has resisted on it says that it may impact the economy of the country.

The counsel of RBI said there was a confidentiality clause and the figure will have its own impact if it is disclosed.

The petition had been filed in 2003 by the said NGO headed by Prashant Bhushan had raised the issue of loans granted to some companies by state-owned Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO). The plea had said that about Rs 40,000 crore of corporate debt was written off in 2015.

The Apex Court had directed the RBI to provide a list of companies which were defaulters of over Rs 500 crore loans..

The apex court had also asked the RBI to provide within six weeks the list of companies whose loans had been restructured under corporate debt restructuring schemes.

Stating that the court will have to do something to set the system right, the top court expanded the scope of the PIL and issued notices to the Union finance ministry and the Indian Banks Association for April 26.